Archive for August, 2009

If you have a minute to spare after booking your I-GO reservation, you should check out this great website, Chicago Gas Prices. Not only can you find the cheapest spots to refuel around the city, but you also have the chance to win prizes (like $250 in prepaid gas!) if you join in the effort by reporting fuel prices you see while out and about in your I-GO vehicle.

Who’s got the cheapest gas in the Chicagoland area today? As of this blog post, that honor belongs to the Sam’s Club in Northlake on 141 W. North Ave & Railroad Ave., offering $2.61 per gallon. As you can see in the local price snapshot below, gas was much more expensive this time last year.

Established in 2002, the Chicago Innovation Awards shine a bright light on the creative spirit of Chicago by focusing attention on the most significant new products and services introduced in the region. The ten winners each year are innovations that uniquely fill unmet needs, spark a competitive response in the marketplace, exceed market expectations, achieve financial success, and improve people’s lives. They emerge from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Most importantly, the Chicago Innovation Awards remind is that innovation is thriving in America’s heartland.

There are 75 nominees covering a wide array of innovators—big and small, public and private. Sifting through the list is an eye-opener: It’s encouraging to see how many enterprising innovators are on the cusp of great ideas in Chicago. Eat your tech-nerd heart out, Silicon Valley.

Best of all: You can vote for I-GO to win! Not that we’d twist your arm on the way to the virtual ballot box. But, c’mon, our particular take on car sharing—partnering with mass transit; extending alternative, sustainable transportation to ALL neighborhoods; only using low-emission, fuel-efficient vehicles (including dozens of hybrids and two bona fide plug-ins)—is worth a spot atop the podium, eh?

Reserve an I-GO Prius in the last two weeks of August and you could find a pair of free tickets to Chicago’s hit rock ‘n’ roll musical, Million Dollar Quartet, in the glovebox! Or you may discover free cast-recording CDs and other prizes stashed in the dash!

Not only that: They want to start off with thousands of electric cars and a network of charging stations.

Isn’t the sort of bold strategy Chicago ought to be implementing if it wants to demonstrate how green it is to the international Olympic committee? Especially since the city is banking on its environmental initiatives to win the 2016 Summer Games.

According to a new study by researchers at the University of Michigan: “The average fuel efficiency of the US vehicle fleet has risen by just 3 miles per gallon since the days of the Ford Model T, and has barely shifted at all since 1991.”

I-GO just added four brand-new Honda Insights to the fleet. Pictured here: the Insight at 2350 N. Racine (at Fullerton). Took it out for a bit today. Really nice ride. Sooo clean. (Let’s keep it that way!) Liked the “Eco Assist” button function, which lets you tweak the electric-to-gas ratio even more. This car sits next to a Prius and guess what? I couldn’t tell the diff until I got within five feet.

Cash for Clunkers addendum: the Dept of Transportation estimates an average increased fuel efficiency of 15.8mpg to 25.4mpg so far. See sidebar figures in today’s NY Times coverage. Forget about the funding debate for a sec. How about “cash for car sharing”?

Or really push the envelope and require folks to buy plug-ins, hybrids and, when feasible, EVs like the Nissan Leaf or Chevy Volt. 25mpg? Meh. It’s anemic compared to the new Prius and InSight, excellent vehicles that double that figure and are already mass produced.

To follow up on our previous post: Here’s the skinny on Nissan’s new EV, a four-door hatchback called the Leaf that boasts a 100-mile range on a full charge, charges to 80% in 30 minutes, and exceeds 90mph.